An IIT-B Startup, Clipr.in, Tries to Add the Social Factor in Online Shopping

For the average netizen, the booming e-commerce industry has proven to be a big boon. In the raging rat race, people find it very difficult to take some time out to go for shopping.

This is where e-commerce comes to the rescue, you’re just a few clicks away from finding almost any kind of product – from your undergarments to that cool jacket Bradley Cooper was sporting in the Hangover. However there’s also the argument that shopping online can never compete with actual hands-on experience of shopping in a mall or street shopping. Shopping in itself is one of the best ways to socialize and hang out with friends & family. Essentially e-commerce stores fail to add that social connect factor.

This is where Clipr.in, an IIT-Bombay alumni start-up, is trying to scratch the itch. Clipr.in, in it’s own words, “is a personalized magazine of awesome products for window shopping and gift recommendations.”

We got in touch with Nikhil Vij, one of the co-founders of Clipr.in to talk about their brainchild:

How did you come up with the idea?

Well, at Clipr we are trying to build an online community of shoppers where products are at the center of the conversation. It started when we, as bachelors, wanted to get some cool stuff for our bachelor-pad and there wasn’t an obvious place for us to start with or discuss and decide or even shortlist what we are going to buy without resorting to email threads which are not really efficient. The more we thought about it. the more we felt that there was a missing link somewhere, while the shopping is moving online at a fast pace, window shopping is not, and despite the fact that shopping should be more of a social activity online owing to lower inhibitions/restrictions when compared to offline shopping, it is actually the opposite.

It was these thoughts that eventually matured and took the shape of Clipr as it is today.

How has the journey been so far?

It took us a pre-launch pivot and 7 months to actually get the product we wanted. We released in March and have been iterating quickly ever since. We also released a mobile version of website three weeks back.

How has the response been so far?

We have received an overall positive response from the public and have few addicted power users; we have been solely growing through organic means up until now

What do you believe is your USP?

Well we are at initial stages and constantly experimenting, but one thing we firmly believe is our vision of social commerce where the interactions need to be as much about people as they are about products, and hence you can see the option of following people on Clipr. We also have a few announcements lined up which will be along the same idea.

Could you tell us more about what’s in store for Clipr’s Future?

Clipping is a straightforward activity and is meant to be used as a bookmarking/wishlisting tool where you basically clip whatever product you like. Eventually users can build clipboards which essentially represent their taste and choices in various product categories.

Tagging was born out of idea that there are so many products which when you first encounter on Clipr, it reminds you of some conversations with your friends, or things you think your friend would really like, we wanted to reduce the friction between having that thought and eventually letting your friend know about it, with the tag feature.

As for business strategy, we are focused upon user experience and building a strong community right now. We are also capturing the intent graph of users which we believe will have a lot of value and position us uniquely in the space of social commerce. Also, affiliate revenues are an obvious first source of revenue.

Clipr.in is one such idea that focusses mainly on the social, emotional and psychological aspects of shopping along with providing a large range of products. They believe that shopping isn’t just about trading/purchasing; it is rather a social activity. Checkout their website at www.clipr.in.